Bali National Golf Club

Bali Golf & Country Club closed in 2012 for a major renovation, twenty years after it first opened for play. New owners, Narendra Interpacific, wanted to develop hotel and accommodation on the property so the original course architects, Nelson & Haworth, were brought back in to completely renovate the layout.

To make room for the new hotel and villas the clubhouse was moved further inland and holes one to ten were repositioned. The 17th was changed from a par four to a par three and the 18th hole was also reconstructed.

Sand was mined on site to rebuild tees, greens and fairways, cutting down the cost of shipping this material in from elsewhere. All the lakes were relined and interconnected and new deep wells were drilled to maximise the usage of water on the course.

The final touches were then applied, as described by Neil Haworth: “Waste areas and bunker complexes were made more dramatic, green surface contours were softened to make putting fairer and trees were removed to open up views of the South China Sea and Mount Agung.”

The outward half is routed through hills with lush tropical vegetation flanking the fairways. Stone walls have also been incorporated into the design to terrace the fairways and tee boxes, affording golfers the sensation of traversing the type of rice field landscape that’s so typical of the Bali countryside.

The back nine is laid out on more level terrain, holes weaving around coconut trees and lakes. The 17th, one of the signature holes on the course, is a dangerous par three to encounter so late in the round as stray tee shots to its island green will be severely punished, potentially ruining a good score.